Normal
by Indiahenna
Summary: Kanda and Lavi go about their daily duties, which include harrassing bad guys, being mean to one another, and reflecting on their place in the world. In the way brooding, emotionally detached and/or falsely chipper teenagers do. AU. Connected to story "The Family," takes place a few years before.


"When you look up into the sky, what do you see?"

He glanced up a moment, his face unreadable, before grunting lowly and muttering, "Smog."

His coworker slash self-proclaimed friend huffed and said, "Com'on, Yuu, be more creative than that."

Kanda narrowed his eyes and glared at the obnoxious redhead, who stepped back, hands raised, with a placating smile on his nervous face. "Sorry, Kanda," Lavi said sheepishly, and Kanda merely grunted again, looking away from Lavi.

The two had been acquaintances for a year now. Kanda had left Tiedoll's house just three months before, preferring to board in a room above the Innocence bar where he could escape the attentions of his doting foster father. The noise heard from the bar almost every night was annoying, sure, but at least the rent was low. And it kept it him close to the comings and goings of members of the Order, which Kanda liked, though no one would hear that from him.

Lavi had been a regular face for years. Kanda still didn't know why he was there, not that he cared. He was obnoxious, loud, and insisted with suicidal stubbornness to call Kanda by his first name. Komui had confiscated more knives in the years Lavi had been visiting instead of his grandfather than the Chinese leader cared to think about.

In response, Kanda had gotten better at concealing them.

That the club's main room managed to remain almost complete undamaged was itself an accomplishment. Then again, Jerry and Reever had had to bodily remove Kanda from killing the stupid rabbit so many times that they had lost count. For their trouble they received a string of creative curses from Kanda and dinner on Komui's tab to compensate. (It was that bad.)

Turns out, Lenalee was the best deterrent to a fight. For a reason incomprehensible to anyone, Kanda listened to Lenalee. Then again, even Komui cringed when she whipped out her clipboard. She was alpha female in a testosterone-infected world, and even Kanda, who was intimidated by no one, was not immune.

Now though, the two walked along the street, Lavi unzipping his light jacket and rolling up the sleeves, trying to cool off. It was warming up quickly this morning, an uncharacteristically warm spring day. It was still early March. Kanda didn't seem to mind, but his stoic expression was famous. There was no telling what he was thinking.

Lavi tried again.

"Give me _something,_" he whined, and Kanda sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"If I said I saw soba noodles, would that make you shut up?"

Lavi glanced at the cloudy sky and frowned. "They don't look anything like noodles."

"They do now. So shut up."

Lavi sighed. "When did you get to be so boring?"

"The day you became annoying."

Lavi pouted, slowing down slightly. "That was mean, Yuu."

Kanda said nothing to that except, "Hurry up, I don't want to be doing this all day."

Lavi shrugged but quickened his pace to catch up to the irate Japanese kid.

They were running an errand for Komui this morning, which found them walking along the warehouse district, past early morning workers loading and unloading trucks, the sounds of industrial machines whirring to life, the shouts of supervisors and the smell of donuts and cheap coffee. The world here woke before the sun, and had been working for hours already. Lavi took in all the sights and sounds, recording, while Kanda faced forward with tunnel vision toward the building they were seeking—Dreson's Industrial, Building 3, which held industrial metals and parts that would be trucked to ship-building yards in the southern part of the city that morning.

Kanda didn't bother knocking on the door when they reached the office entrance, but grabbed the handle and with a fierce twist threw the door open, startling the man inside, who was on the phone and had just dropped his third cigarette of the day.

Kanda didn't waste time, pulling out two knives from inside his jacket and lunging toward the man, backing him up and stabbing the fabric of his jacket into the drywall, not backing off as the man sputtered in fear, eyes wide, already sweating in apprehension.

Lavi followed more calmly behind him, shutting the office door and facing the man, hands in his pockets, and smiling before saying,

"Mr. Dreson, you've been a busy man."

Mr. Dreson was in his middle forties, already balding, with pudgy cheeks and stubborn fat built around his middle. His skin was a sickly yellow, from years of smoking and too little time in the sun, despite his profession. His eyes had shadows under them from lack of sleep, and everything about his appearance spoke of poor living habits. A stink lingered just around him, as if he hadn't showered in a few days. Clearly this person was not in the best state, but Lavi didn't let that concern him. He remained where he was, smiling, while Kanda glared him down.

Mr. Dreson was shaking, eyes wide, glancing in fear between Kanda and Lavi. He eventually settled his gaze on Lavi and stammered out, "W-what do you want? Money? I've got it, I-I just need some time…"

"I don't care about your money," Lavi said smoothly, seeing a chair in front of the man's desk and settling into it, resting his feet on top of the desk and leaning back with his arms behind him head.

Man, he loved playing this role. There was something so fun about the Relaxed Bad Guy stereotype. Mr. Dreson was just soaking it up—literally and figuratively.

Lavi continued on. "I'd like to know what you've been shipping in the past three months and to take a look at your receipts, if you don't mind."

"I don't know what you mean…"

Lavi smiled condescendingly to the man. "Sure you do."

"I'll give you thirty grand," the man began, his voice pitching higher as desperation took hold. "No, forty. Please—"

Lavi merely glanced at Kanda, who pulled out a third knife and sunk it into the wall right beside Dreson's right hand. Dreson paled and shook harder, then glanced, horrified, at Lavi.

Lavi was no longer smiling. He stood up, walked around the desk, to stop right in front of Dreson.

"Cooperate and this will be relatively painless for you. I can even ensure you won't go totally bankrupt while I'm at it. So, if you would: all records concerning the Noah and your business transactions. But you'd better do it quickly. My friend here isn't as patient as I am."

Kanda pulled the knives holding Dreson to the wall out, and the man slumped down onto his rump, his legs shaking too hard to hold him up. Neither teen moved to help him as he climbed unsteadily to his feet, leaning on the wall for support. Kanda stood in the same spot, knife handles held comfortably in his hands, and he simply glared at Dreson.

The man settled into his chair, woke his computer up from its sleep state before retrieving the information Lavi wanted, his hands shaking.

No other words were needed. After everything was printed out and files saved to a jump drive Lavi was carrying in his pocket, the redhead wished Mr. Dreson a good day before he and Kanda left the office.

"You shouldn't mess with them like that."

Lavi smiled at his friend. "Why not? It's fun."

"It's stupid."

"You have no imagination."

"Says the one mocking every stupid movie villain ever written."

Lavi laughed. "I didn't know you were such a movie buff."

Kanda huffed.

Lavi stopped in front of a convenience store and bought a late breakfast, offering to Kanda a sugar-coated donut to annoy him before giving Kanda his real breakfast—a granola bar, with only honey as a sweetener. The irritable man took his without a word, but Lavi had come to expect that.

"So, whose turn is it to call the police?"

"Yours, stupid rabbit."

"Aww, I did it last time," the redhead whined.

"And you were so good at it too, you should do it again."

Lavi stopped in his tracks, staring at Kanda, who had kept walking another five paces before noticing he was alone, and paused to stare back, eyes narrow in annoyance.

Lavi muttered, slightly awed, "Did you…just compliment me?"

Kanda frowned. "Are you stupider than you look?"

"No."

Kanda smirked.

Then Lavi flared up in indignant anger, and Kanda turned away to keep walking.

"I'M NOT STUPID!" Lavi screeched behind him, earning a few stares from passerby. Kanda smirked and didn't reply, leaving the redhead to whine for a little bit before it ceased to be amusing and Kanda threatened to cut him if he didn't shut up this instant.

Lavi called the cops that morning—after, of course, they turned in the information to Komui. Komui would put out some of the information to be found at convieniet times by the force, keeping everything else to get started on sabotaging the Noah where the police couldn't touch.

Mr. Dreson was arrested the next day, and the Noah was searching for a new supply line for about a week, which was perhaps a little shorter than the Order had thought it would take. On the plus side, it gave them a week to track down fifty girls that had arrived in the country in the last month, and get them helped out for a time.

xox

Kanda laid out on his back on the roof of the building where Innocence was housed, staring into the early night sky. The first star was already out, its softer twin hanging below, almost lost in the remaining purple light before night took over completely. Whenever he wanted to be alone, which admittedly was often, Kanda would come up here. Normally there was nothing to see; the haze and smog of the city obscured any views, and this building was only a few stories tall. But tonight it was unnaturally clear. A storm had rolled in just hours before, and it had cleared the air and brought a nip to it. Kanda had grabbed a jacket before coming up, and told no one where he was headed.

By now, everyone knew not to bother asking.

He stilled as he heard the heavy metal door to the roof swing open and groaned angrily when a too-cheerful head of red hair popped over, blocking his view of the sky.

"Found ya," Lavi grinned, and Kanda closed his eyes, counting to three very slowly before opening them and growling, "Leave me alone, you stupid rabbit."

Lavi pouted and sat down beside Kanda. "You know, sometimes I really think you hate me, Yuu."

Kanda said nothing, glaring instead and letting that do the talking for him. Lavi sighed.

"Fine, Kanda, whatever. But you're never gonna get any girls that way. Shame too. You're not bad looking under all that anger."

Kanda swiped at Lavi, who leaned out of the way but didn't get up. Sighing in frustration Kanda looked away from the nuisance and back to the sky. It was darkening by the minute, and he could see one or two more stars braving the city lights.

"Penny for your thoughts," Lavi said quietly.

"'M not thinking," Kanda muttered in reply.

Lavi sighed, exasperated, and flopped down flat on the ground, splaying his arms out but being careful not to touch Kanda—he wasn't in the mood to mess with the kid too much. "I swear, you can't be thinking about nothing, with all the brooding you do. Come on, give me _something. _I'm bored."

Kanda smirked. "Be bored then, what do I care?"

Lavi pouted. "You're so mean."

"Then why do you bother me so much all the damn time?"

Lavi didn't answer. Instead he said, "I'll tell what I'm thinking if you tell me."

Kanda snorted. "No. That's stupid."

"Why is it so stupid?"

"Because all you're thinking are rabbit thoughts."

"Seriously, Yuu, where did the rabbit thing come from?"

Kanda looked over and raised an eyebrow at Lavi, as if to say, _Really?_

Lavi chuckled. "Fine, fine." Then he grinned and Kanda groaned internally. "But you must like me a little to give me a nickname."

"I don't like you at all, you dumb rabbit."

Lavi grinned wider and started poking Kanda's arm. "See? See? Denial."

Scooting away Kanda glared and snapped, "Stop that."

Amazingly, Lavi did, sitting up and leaning back on his arms to look at the few stars strong enough to shine past the city lights. When he glanced back over and down, he said seriously, "You don't have to hide up here all the time. It's not like anyone downstairs is going to bite."

Kanda said nothing to that. But Lavi didn't push it this time.

Kanda stared at the first star in the sky, his thoughts drifting from his work that day, to polishing his collection of knives, to buying new ones to replace those too damaged to be used any longer. He thought about how Komui had suggested he begin carrying a gun for the gang, and Kanda's hesitation to do so. Komui had given him time to think about it. After all, to carry a gun for the gang meant he was devoted for life. Becoming a gang-banger meant there was no going back.

He didn't want to think about the Order just now. His job, his father, everything he knew—tied down, to this place, this building. Everyone he knew, all involved somehow or another with the gang.

Kanda grimaced. Thinking about these things made him far more uncomfortable than he was willing to be, so he stopped. Things were so much easier if he didn't think too long about them. His mistakes didn't seem so large when he didn't dwell on them.

They wouldn't leave him alone. A vision of the old man's face swam in his mind's eye, and then it drifted to an older memory of a young boy, the only one he ever called friend. Of that boy's death, of Kanda's stupid mistakes that led to it.

Lavi watched his brooding friend out of the corner of his eye. Kanda probably wasn't aware of it, but at the moment his face was an open book—eyebrows drawn together, eyes tight and watery. Whatever he was thinking about, it wasn't pleasant, it wasn't easy. And Lavi got his first good look at who Kanda Yuu really was, and couldn't really help but feel sorry for him.

_Don't get too close,_ a voice warned in his head, but Lavi pushed his grandfather's warning away and looked instead at the sky.

"I'm not scared."

Lavi looked down at Kanda, who wasn't looking back but had closed his eyes.

"Really?" he replied doubtfully.

Without missing a beat, his voice firm: "Really."

Lavi sighed. "Whatever you say, Yuu. Whatever you say."

The two boys remained there, lost in themselves and their musings, until Lenalee found them hours later and Lavi came out of his own thoughts and returned to flirting with her, while Kanda realized he was starving. With the promise of hot noodles and one dance, the two slipped back into their daily facades.

Later that evening after the bar had closed and Lenalee had left for her apartment, Lavi remained behind, slipping behind the bar and picking the locks to the liquor cabinet. He handed Kanda a bottle silently, and the two boys claimed two bar stools. They drank into the night, sometimes talking, sometimes not speaking at all, until both were slumped in a stupor. This is how they were found the next morning when Reever came to open the doors to get started on cleaning.

Instead of waking the dozing teens, Reever found a pair of blankets in the employee locker room and covered them up, knowing the headaches that awaited them when they woke would be merciless.

* * *

There you have it. This is connected with my story "The Family" but takes place a few years before the events there. It includes some history and AU stuff I can't include in Family, but liked enough to put here into a one-shot. I really like the relationship between Lavi and Kanda and feel that if the circumstances of the DGM world weren't so tragic, Lavi permitted real friendships, and Kanda's past not nearly so messed up, they could be really good friends. This may or may not reflect that, it's up to you. As for the fact that the two act like thugs in the beginning: well, they are thugs in this because that's the setting. Anyhow, hope you enjoyed.


End file.
